


The Last High

by Vashti (tvashti)



Category: Inception (2010), Looper (2012)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Id Fic, Old Fic, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, no beta we die liek mne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29614749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/pseuds/Vashti
Summary: Joe promised that he’d fix it, and he did. Didn't he?





	The Last High

_“So I fixed it.”_

Joe isn’t surprised that a direct shot from his blunderbuss hurts.

He’s surprised that it hurts so long.

And that it feels like falling.

Not like being blown off his feet. Not like being jerked backward. Nor, even, like being spun around by a cruel giant playing with his favorite toy.

_How long was he under?_

He’d fallen before. Into his hidey hole. Down a rotten shaft that should have been a stairwell. Off a fire-escape onto the roof of a car. 

He’s been shot before. By another kid messing with a trash-tossed pistol. By a blond woman with a shotgun.

He knows the difference. How time can become elastic with one, and the world hyper-real with the other.

_What do you mean a few hours?_

He’d shot himself. But instead of razor-edged grass and soil that feels like glass against his skin, the world stretches and expands, slowing like it did when he saw the future—all their futures—mapped out before him.

Except there’s nothing to see. And still so far to fall. 

And it keeps hurting.

_Do you have any idea how long that is for him down there?_

Joe thinks he might scream. 

Is this the price of the future? A half remembered story about a half remembered savior he’d never been able to take seriously (sacrificing yourself for people who are trying to kill you. really.) teases the edges of his agony. He thinks he’d get it now. If he could breathe around the scream burning his lungs.

_Yes, you can stay, but only if you don’t disturb anything, Phil. And call someone if anything happens._

The ground rushes up to meet him. Finally.

Joe takes a breath.

* * *

_"Oh my God! You’re awake."_

The whispered words scraped his ears. 

"Daddy! Daddy!"

The shouting had him turning away on instinct. But he couldn’t go far. There were razor-edged tubes and wires, and things that screeched at him. Things that tangled and constrained him. 

His chest hurt. Why did it still hurt?

"Uncle Arthur’s awake!"

The soft lips burned against his cheek. "Welcome back, Uncle Arthur. We thought you’d never wake up. Daddy and Ari and Mr. Eames will be so happy!"

Joe turned his head. Looked into the eyes of a girl with radiant blond hair and bright green eyes. "Who?"

[in]Fin[ite]

**Author's Note:**

> Written about a thousand years ago. Or, y'know, after _Looper_ came out. At the time of writing, I had no intention of writing _Looper_ fic. I liked it, but I’d over-analyzed some of the technical acting things going on (thanks, io9) too much to really enjoy it the way I think I could have done. Or so I thought. Apparently my brain just needed time to percolate. You’ve gotta admit, though, that last scene with Joe was pretty evocative.


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